Family Time: Ways to kick up excitement for the whole family

Tuesday

Jun 17, 2014 at 1:01 AM

Tip of the Week

The world’s largest soccer tournament is now taking place, but you don’t have to be in Brazil to celebrate the soccer craze with your entire family. There are plenty of fun ways to gear up for the festivities at home - and score some fun in the process.

To help kick off summer in entertaining fashion, consider spending quality time together with these family-friendly soccer activities.

Play a game of “Red light, Green light.” You don’t need teams of 11 players to have fun with a soccer ball. Consider a game of “Red Light, Green Light,” which can be played with only a handful of people. Line up any number of players, each with a soccer ball, facing one person who serves as a “caller.” The players dribble a soccer ball toward the caller, who starts the action by yelling “green light.” When the caller says red light,” they must immediately freeze, while stopping the ball. If a player moves or allows the ball to roll after “red light” is called, that player must take five steps back. The first person to cross the finish line gets to call out the commands for the next round.

Set up an obstacle course. Here’s a challenge: Create an obstacle course for soccer lovers. Gather cones or other objects from around the house to use as obstacles. Line them up and yell out a combination of moves needed to complete the course, such as dribbling around the obstacles and kicking the ball. Feel free to get creative here and throw in some other tricky moves, like hopping through hula hoops, performing a cartwheel or completing a somersault.

Quiz them with soccer trivia. Entertain soccer fans, while educating them in the process, with a soccer-themed trivia session. Here are some questions to get you started:

* The twenty white patches on a soccer ball are in what shape? (Hexagon) * How many black patches are on a typical soccer ball? (Twelve)* How many teams compete in the World Cup? (Thirty-two)

With the world focusing on the sport of soccer this summer, get the whole family involved and excited about the game with these interactive activities.

- Family Features

Family Movie Night

“The Fault in Our Stars”Rated: PG-13Length: 125 minutesSynopsis: Hazel and Gus are two teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional and a love that sweeps them on a journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous given that Hazel’s other constant companion is an oxygen tank, Gus jokes about his prosthetic leg and they met and fell in love at a cancer support group. Based on the popular novel of the same name. Violence/scary rating: 3Sexual-content rating: 3Profanity rating: 3Drugs/alcohol rating: 3Family Time rating: 3. Definitely a movie for teens. And it will leave you in tears. (Ratings are judged on a five-point scale, with 5 being “bad for kids” and 1 being “fine for kids.”)

Book Report

“Mr. Tiger Goes Wild,” by Peter BrownAges: 3-6Pages: 48Synopsis: Are you bored with being so proper? Do you want to have more fun? Mr. Tiger knows exactly how you feel. So he decides to go wild. But does he go too far? From Caldecott Honor artist Peter Brown comes a story that shows there’s a time and place for everything … even going wild. - Little, Brown

Did You Know

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1 out of 3 children in the U.S. (or 24 million kids), don’t live with their biological father.

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